


Something More

by puzzleden



Category: Layton Brothers: Mystery Room, Layton's Mystery Journey
Genre: Awkward Romance, M/M, someone described this as bi panic and honestly they're not wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21756337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puzzleden/pseuds/puzzleden
Summary: Ernest, wanting to be a better investigator, decided to go to the best investigator he knows for some pointers. Unfortunately, Alfendi is known by others to be unconventional by method...
Relationships: Alfendi Layton & Ernest Greeves, Alfendi Layton & Katrielle Layton, Alfendi Layton/Ernest Greeves, Ernest Greeves & Katrielle Layton, Lucy Baker & Alfendi Layton
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	Something More

As of late, Ernest wanted more of himself. He wanted to be helpful in investigations, he wanted to exercise his mind and mystery-solving prowess. (To which he lacked the latter more so than the former.) And while he was on said quest for self-enrichment, he seemed to have found an answer: Katrielle’s brother, Alfendi. **  
**

It took some goading, but he managed to convince him to be his mentor. What better way to improve his investigative skills than learning from an investigator first hand?

…Is what he would say if the experience was conventional in any way.

No, so far, his training was a whirlwind of misinterpreted expectations.

He thought he was going to stick to office work and shadow Alfendi and Lucy as they solved cases. Instead, he was dragged along to live crime scenes and was to actively take notes all while ignoring the…atrocities he was exposed to.

He thought that his training would start and end in the office. No, it was to start whenever and wherever Alfendi deemed necessary. Something he noticed occurred for him and only him. At the office, Ernest’s little dorm, Alfendi’s flat; morning, noon, night… Surely there was something odd about this predicament!

Most of all, he thought of Alfendi to be quiet, straight-forward, and sincere. But he later learned that Alfendi might be what one would consider “the duality of man” incarnate! One moment he would like some earl grey and solving cold cases in the office, the next, he’d want his coffee black and to investigate a thrilling mystery outside.

Nothing was quite to the lad’s expectations and it was hard to tell if that was a good thing or not.

On one hand, he’s kept on his toes. Reading a person is an important task that detectives perform often.

On the other hand, organization of any form was thrown out the window. (That wasn’t to say he wasn’t used to that with Katrielle, but as an older brother he should set a better example!)

He soon found that the same unorganization applied to Alfendi’s own life.

Ernest had sat cross legged next to the door of Alfendi’s flat. He was reminded throughout the week that because Alfendi was assigned the day off, their lesson would continue at his place at 10AM. He kept that in mind and arrived perhaps 15 minutes early to be safe. However… all knocks on his door have given no answer. He would assume he wasn’t home, except… His car was clearly parked outside! He had to be in there!

Which led to him sitting outside until the afternoon rolled around. Deciding that was more than enough time for him to be done with…whatever he was doing, Ernest marched up to the door and knocked on it again. This time, perhaps a bit more assertively.

“Mr. Layton! Mr. Layton, it’s me, Ernest! We were to have a lesson at 10 today!”

He heard a string of muttered curses from inside then sounds of stumbling before the door unlocked.

Once the door had swung open, a very irritated stood Alfendi leaned against the doorway as he examined him through his messy, red mane. He scratched his bare chest and yawned away the last bit of sleep he had in him.

“Ernest? What are you doing here?”

“You told me we were going to continue our discussion from yesterday and for me to be here at 10AM.”

“…It’s not even 10AM!” Alfendi argued.

“Well, you’re right about that. It’s not ten in the morning, it’s now two in the afternoon,” Ernest stated matter-of-factly as he confirmed with his watch.

His mentor stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the nearest clock. He scowled and even growled.

“Of course, I get forced to take the day off and that schmuck gave said day off to someone else,” he grumbled.

That “schmuck” being himself. Or his other self, Ernest supposed. He had only realized that he had a second personality recently, thanks to Lucy for her explanation. And everything seemed to make sense after that. Why he was always at ends with himself, why his methodology had always seemed to change as often as his hair color.

Why… instead of being dressed and expectant of a student, he stood there; confused, underprepared, and perhaps arguably, quite underdressed.

Ernest did his best to look away and to avoid staring at the scar on his chest, or the way his underwear was precariously slipping past his hip on one side. Never mind the odd flutter he felt in his chest. He could only chalk it down as the feeling of uncertainty he had around this side of Alfendi.

“Sorry about all of this,” he seemed to have the notion that he should be at least a little embarrassed about his current state. “Come in, I’ll be with you in a minute.”

The young man was led inside and gently ushered to the couch to sit for the moment. Ernest decided to look around the near-empty living room to pass the time.

There certainly wasn’t very much to the room at all. Aside stacks of newspapers, the occasional picture, and framed news clippings of his achievements, it was almost… lonely.

He noticed that the photos must have had long gaps of time in between each of them. There were some with him and Katrielle as children, one with him graduating from college, a current picture of himself and Katrielle… But one stood out from the bunch.

He picked up the small picture frame to examine it. Why, it was one of him and Alfendi on the day he asked for his mentorship. He remembered how starry-eyed he was to be taken under his wing, how happy and overjoyed that Katrielle’s own brother was willing to help him. That much showed in the picture. Alfendi only looked at him in bewilderment, but ultimately, had a supportive hand on his shoulder.

Lucy took this picture, he recalled. To “commemorate an honorary Mystery Room member,” as she put it.

Though he found it odd that instead of it being in an album or the like, it instead was among the other pictures in his home. As if… he was important to him.

The fluttering in his chest returned, this time his face feeling warm. He couldn’t help the goofy smile he made.

Warm air hit his neck, as if someone was breathing on him. A voice he likened to crushed velvet tickled his ear. 

“Having fun snooping around my house?”

Poor Ernest jumped forward in surprise, nearly dropping the picture he held.

“Oh, oh no! Not…not at all! I wasn’t trying to snoop, I swear!”

“Oh?”

Alfendi casually walked up to him and plucked the picture from his grasp. He gave a momentary glance, assessing what it was before moving to place it on his desk nearby.

“Ahem, if you’re ready, I’ll continue from where we left off.” He scratched his head, trying to recall the memory but falling short. “Give me a refresher on what our main topic was.”

“Oh right! Um, it was one of your older cases. A locked room murder where everyone was a victim. We were going over the possibilities of a murder-suicide or someone else managing to get in and get out undetected.”

He hummed, mildly impressed of the details he listed.

“Alright, given the state of the crime scene, which was more likely to occur?”

Here, Ernest struggled to find the logic behind said crime scene and only seemed to babble his answers. But this wasn’t the results Alfendi sought from him. After enough time had passed, he raised his hand to quiet him down.

“Greeves, breathe. Stop this incessant chatter. Put that pretty little head of yours to good use and tell me about the pieces of wire you found in the photos yesterday.”

Ernest pouted, a bit indignant from his attitude. He couldn’t tell if he was complimenting him or was outright egging him on.

“Right… um, the wire had burned ends, which suggests it was used to hold the window open. From there, all they would have to do is set a candle just below it and it would take care of the rest as the window would lock itself as soon as it closed.”

“See what a little brainpower can do? I knew there was something in there.”

Alfendi leaned back on the couch and crossed one leg over the other.

“You’ve pretty much got everything else down from who the murderer was to their motive, so there isn’t much more to discuss.”

Ernest scratched the back of his head. “Really? I was hoping you may have another case I could work on today…”

He could only scratch the stubble on his chin. “Hard to believe, I know, but I don’t bring my work home with me. Why do you think I stay at the office late at night?”

The lad hung his head. “Oh… I guess I was waiting outside for almost no reason, huh?”

Alfendi furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I waited the whole morning through just so I could have this lesson today. I was looking forward to an in depth discussion…”

His expression of complete bafflement was punctuated with a piercing headache that signalled the other personality’s appearance. He fixed his now-lavender hair.

“I… I’m terribly sorry! To think you went through all that trouble… If it’s any consolation, you’re free to spend as much time here as you want. I don’t make for much conversation outside my job, but…”

“I wouldn’t say that! You and Lucy seem to always have a good talk whenever I visit.”

He shook his head. “Lucy was always the one to carry a conversation.”

“Still, you must have some interesting stories at least! You’ve had so many adventures!”

“I…well, I suppose I do.”

“How about a spot of tea and some snacks perhaps? We can talk over that.”

“Oh, alright. I suppose I can tell you a few stories. But I’m afraid I don’t have much to eat here, if at all.”

Ernest frowned at first, but checked the kitchen just to be sure. As he said, there wasn’t much food aside a few instant meals and crumbs from whatever food was there prior.

“How do you not have food? What do you normally eat?”

“When it comes to any problems regarding food, take out I find to be a great answer.”

“What? You can’t just eat that! It’s unhealthy and… frankly, expensive!”

“Oh, it’s not that bad. I normally have leftovers that lasts for a couple of days. On top of that, I’m hardly ever home, so there isn’t much of a reason to stock up if they expire within a couple of weeks.”

Ernest frowned. “I’m sorry, but… This just won’t do! I think you might have something around to at least make something simple…”

He strode into the kitchen and shuffled between the cabinets in search of bread. Sandwiches always made for a nice, light meal to go with some tea.

Alfendi stood in the doorway to the kitchen. “Why…? Why are you doing all of this? There’s no need to trouble yourself.”

“Because… because I want to,” Ernest hesitated.

The two stared into each others’ eyes, searching for a mutual understanding between them. After a moment, Alfendi relented with a nod and went into the other room to sit.

Ernest didn’t realize how weird the situation was until he was pulling out bread and whatever he found in the fridge. Here he was, almost forcing his way into his kitchen just to make him a meager meal. Isn’t it normally the host that would do such things and not the guest?

After boiling some water, he fetched the box of tea bags he found in an empty cupboard and began fashioning together a decent brew. Ernest wished he at least had some dishes or silverware, but only had so much available to be used.

He brought out a teacup along with a plate of perfectly cut sandwiches in his hands, placing it on the coffee table in front of Alfendi.

“Here you go! It’s not much, but I’m glad I was able to find something that works!”

Al stared at the food in front of him and looked back at Ernest with a sheepish smile.

“I…thank you.”

He took a bite and hummed at the cool, crisp crunch that came from it.

“Cucumber sandwiches?”

“Yup! You still had some fresh produce in the fridge. It wasn’t much, but I say it turned out to be a success. How…How is it?”

“Very… good. Almost refreshing even. …I can’t help but think that my sister and her pet might be spoiled rotten with you around.”

He took another bite, almost smiling as he reached out for the teacup. Testing out with a sip, he seemed to gasp at the flavor. That wasn’t just the regular, bland tea bags he had lying around. It had body, flavor that was blended to it by honey and cinnamon.

It has been a long time since he’s tasted anything other than what he’s bought.

“Well, I ahah…I wouldn’t say that. I’d do that for anyone.”

Alfendi quirked an eyebrow at him. 

“So you’d waltz into the kitchen of anyone’s home and make them lunch? Or am I just the lucky one here?”

The green haired lad stuttered as he tried to come up with a reasonable answer.

Al gave a warm chuckle and waved off his barely-understandable responses.

“Relax, I’m only teasing you. Though, if I may be honest with you, I…”

There was a pause.

For once, Alfendi had somewhat of a rough time explaining himself. After some time of struggling with his own words, his hair slowly dyed red. He let out a sigh, bouncing his foot on the opposite leg.

“I’d like to have you for myself, really.”

“M-Mr. Layton!” Ernest’s face was red as he tried to discern what he meant by that statement.

Realizing how he sounded, Al amended, “For lunch! I’d like to have you over for lunch again is what I meant. That is, if that isn’t a problem for you.”

“Oh no, of course not! I’m flattered! I’ll just have to make a day for it and remember to bring my notes.”

“Outside of our…lessons, I meant. As…associates.”

“Associates…?” Ernest repeated questioningly.

Al growled, angry at himself for his hesitation. What about the guy made him embarrassed for? He never remembered being like this to friends or even those he dated.

“Look, I just want to repay you for what you’ve done. Don’t make it any odder than it needs to be.”

“Oh! Um, you mean as friends!”

“…Yeah, as friends.”

“Wow, I didn’t think you thought of me any more than just an apprentice of sorts. It’s an honor!”

“Well, you’ve grown on me. I’ll say that much.”

“Golly…” Ernest beamed from ear to ear.

Alfendi scratched the back of his head. “Assuming nothing happens, I’m free this Sunday. Would that work for you?”

“Yes, certainly! It’s a date then!”

He paused for a minute and thought over his words before he waved his arms out.

“Not like romantically! I mean like uh, you know, like er…!”

“I get it, now knock it off!”

Ernest jumped back from the outburst. “R-Right!”

This guy… just what was he to do about him? He almost felt embarrassed for him. But admittedly, if there was something Alfendi liked about him was the matter of him being easy to read. There was something to him that made him quite honest, and he almost picked up how he was from the moment he met him.

But aside his character, he didn’t know too much outside of what he’s heard from Katrielle.

He supposed this next luncheon was a good start. Then maybe, just maybe…

“Hey, Greeves.”

“Huh?”

“It might get dark in the next hour or so. Want a lift back home?”

“Oh, sure! Thank you, Mr. Layton!”

“…Call me Al.”

Something good may come out of this. He won’t hold his breath. Or so he thought.


End file.
